BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Jefferson County has not been transparent with its handling of money for indigent patients and could face penalties for not properly accounting for the cash, a state lawmaker said today.

Rep. John Rogers, D-Birmingham, made the statements at the end of a Jefferson County Commission meeting that turned tense and saw one commissioner walk out.

Commission President David Carrington challenged Rogers on the truthfulness of his comments.

Here's what happened: Reps. Rogers and Mary Moore, D-Birmingham, attended the meeting to distribute copies of a bill recently passed in the Legislature to require that the county submit quarterly accounting of collections and payments from the indigent care fund to lawmakers and the public.

Rogers and Moore have long been critical over the county's decision to close the in-patient care unit and emergency room at Cooper Green, the former county-owned hospital for the poor.

Cooper Green Health Services now operates as a series of outpatient clinics.

Near the end of today's meeting, Commissioner George Bowman asked that Rogers be given a chance to speak.

Rogers began by saying: "Y'all have been playing around with this for too long. It's pathetic. I have requested these (indigent care fund) figures months ago ... I have not seen anything.

"Anything that you all have done intentionally by transferring this money, we are asking that charges be filed against anybody who did that," he said.

At that point, Commissioner Sandra Little Brown walked out.

Rogers continued: "All of this is necessary to get the figures from the indigent care fund, we haven't got the figures. Every hospital has told you that it's an abject failure what you've done."

"That's not true," Carrington said. "We've shown you courtesy by allowing you to come here ... you're making some accusations, sir, that just aren't true."

Rogers and Carrington then went back and forth over whether indigent patients were getting the care they needed with the hospital downsized.